A letter from Doug Baker in Northern Ireland
August 2012
Dear Friends,
Belfast Lord Mayor, Sinn Fein's Niall Ó Donnghaile, at Presbyterian Church in Ireland General Assembly
Recently I had the privilege of representing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at the 2012 Church of Scotland General Assembly. As you might expect, it has more pomp and tradition than a PC(USA) Assembly: Opening reception in Holyrood Palace, daily grand entrance by the Lord High Commissioner representing the Queen, and a vocabulary all its own for office bearers and actions taken. However, in many other ways it was just like a PC(USA) General Assembly: a reunion of old friends, “family members” who had never met before discovering common ties, some of the best hymn singing you could ever imagine, long tedious business sessions laced with good humor to revive flagging spirits, moments of deep prayer about serious internal concerns and wider world problems that need to be lifted before God, and times of celebration for areas of ministry where God has clearly been at work using the church to help reveal the Kingdom. Like a PC(USA) General Assembly, there were also a handful of controversial issues about which deep division was evident. Sadly, as is also often the case with PC(USA) General Assemblies, those more heated debates were about all that the secular media was interested in reporting on to the outside world.
) Mrs Fiona Watts (Presbyterian Church in Ireland,) Ms. Rosemary Rainey and Rev Ian Ferguson, ( Methodist Church in Ireland,) Rev Doug Baker( PCUSA,) and Bishop Patrick Rooke, Church of Ireland (Anglican) at the opening of the PCI Assembly
On the Sunday afternoon of the Scottish Assembly an all-age event called Heart and Soul drew thousands to Edinburgh’s Princess Street Gardens where scores of large tents had been erected for different departments of the church, individual parishes or presbyteries, various Christian action groups, and a variety of ecumenical organizations to erect interactive displays and share both what they are doing in Jesus’ name and how others can either draw on their resources or become involved in working with them. Temporary stages dotted along the length of the park provided space for praise groups, traditional choirs, dancers, drama troupes, and puppeteers to present the gospel and its contemporary challenges to Church of Scotland members and passers-by alike. There were even bagpipe bands parading up and down the road. The whole thing was chaos, but beautiful to behold! Such a vibrant depiction of the church alive and active in different geographic and socio-economic areas of Scotland and beyond.
Church of Scotland General Assembly.
As one of the representatives from other churches around the world, I had been asked to wear "traditional dress" and bring something to Heart and Soul to symbolise my denomination: something I could talk about in round-table discussions at one of the many displays in the park. I was tempted to wear blue jeans and a baseball cap, but since a lot of my ministry has been about breaking down stereotypes I decided not to do so! But what could I use to symbolize the PC(USA)? I have to admit for several days I was stumped for ideas. Then the obvious came to me, the PC(USA) Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study. Like the Church of Scotland event, Heart and Soul, the Mission Yearbook is bursting with stories about PC(USA) congregations, mission workers and agencies living out and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in diverse places and ways, wrestling with tough issues and rolling up their sleeves and getting on with loving neighbors. Very little of what you find in the Mission Yearbook is what the secular media chooses to report about the church. That is sad. What is even sadder, though, is that many of our own members decide what they think about our denomination from what they read in the secular press or see highlighted about the General Assembly in a report of a single-issue group on either the right or the left. Elaine has been using the Mission Yearbook as her daily devotional this year. I strongly encourage you to read it regularly too, be inspired by it, and then find your place as part of the church in action.
The week after the Church of Scotland Assembly it was the turn of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Assembly, which I attend every year. One thing to note from it is the fact that the presence of Niall Ó Donnghaile, a Sinn Fein councillor and then Belfast Lord Mayor, at the Opening was treated as "normal," whereas only a few years ago it was a major decision for PCI to invite a Sinn Fein Lord Mayor to attend. It felt so normal, in fact, that when at the Moderator’s Reception afterwards someone discovered and commented that it also happened to be Niall’s birthday the gathering erupted into a heartfelt rendition of "Happy Birthday"!
In many settings and in many ways, day by day God’s people give witness to the Shalom God promises. It’s good to be part of that, isn’t it!
Faithfully yours,
Doug Baker
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 268
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